Life as it is Lived
by nurserachie2012
Summary: Exactly what it says on the tin! A story about life, living it, and what it can hold for you. The paring is as this is my little tug boat SS/HG, but this is about family so there are others including AD/MM, DM/HP, RL/NT and LM/OC.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: It's all JKR's I swear. Nothing to do with me.

The only things that are mine are the plot and the names of people that shall appear later on in the story.

AN: A few of the characters are OCC but that's the way I like it so if you don't like it don't read it. Simple. Also, I have always imagined Severus as more attractive than movie Snape. Think Richard Armitage in Robin Hood and you'll get my Snape. Although Alan Rickman is still HOT!

...

It was a cold and snowy winter's day in December, and it is in the large and spacious lounge of number 12 Grimmauld Place that we start our story.

2 weeks until Christmas, and the occupants of the house were trying to clean up the place. All the work was an attempt to make the once derelict and unforgiving house into a home, not a hovel. The group of people as a collective were somewhat eclectic and what would be called 'an odd bunch of characters'. Some dark, some light. However, to all intents and purposes they were a family none the less, trying to look forward to a good Christmas.

Harry Potter was in the living room of the house, trying to scrub 100's of years of grime and mistreatment off of the walls. His efforts after 2 hours were beginning to show in the large room, and the colour was coming back to the walls and the ceiling. It was white, but it was still a colour more resembling that of a home not a torture chamber.

The portraits in the room had been taken down and stored in the attic along with the others from most of the walls. The portrait of Mrs Black was finally gone from the hall. It took the combined effort of Harry and 3 others to finally blast the screeching woman off of the wall. Harry had been sorely tempted to burn it; however, out of respect for portraits in general she had gone to the Black family vault at Gringotts.

The goblins had not been impressed when a group of wizards and witches had tramped into the large expanse of the entrance hall of the bank carrying a portrait that was screaming obscenities about werewolves, half breeds, mudbloods and traitors. Now that the house was his own, Harry was determined to make it into a proper home. The Order of the Phoenix had no need for it now, and he finally had the chance to live here, away from the Dursley's and the publicity surrounding his recent defeat of Voldemort. Without the weight of the Wizarding world on his shoulders, he was finally beginning to think of a future for himself.

Unfortunately, that future no longer included his best friend Ron. After assisting in the defeat of the monster, the same fame that his best friend Harry had told him had ruined his life for so long, had gone to his head. The relationship with Hermione that had been mutual and loving had turned into his little private joke. His numerous affairs had, very publicly caught up with him on the front cover of the daily prophet one day. The picture of him in a very compromising and revealing position with 3 witches had effectively ended the relationship faster than any of their very fiery arguments had done. Even though Ron was his best friend, Harry was thanking the gods that Hermione had finally found out what he was up to. Ron's attitude had turned very ugly very quickly, and the house and its occupants were much happier now that the air was clear and the atmosphere was calm and relaxed.


	2. Chapter 2

Life as it is lived 2

At the same time as Harry was fighting with the living room, Hermione Granger was in the library of the great house, attempting to sort through the mass of books, cleaning the shelves, walls and ceiling as she went. Truly she was in her element, even though some of the titles and write ups about the books required a strong stomach to read.

She was right now sorting through a shelf of very old books, most of which were beyond salvaging, even through magical means. Pages turned to dust as she touched them, spines crumbling as the books were removed from the shelf. It appeared that the only thing holding a lot of them together was the fact that they were all pressed together on the shelf.

Dividing them into piles of keep, hide or throw was a lengthy and difficult process, as there were thousands of books in the room. Some were of such a nature that having them in the library was either dangerous, or too repulsive. However, as a slave to books for so long, unless they were beyond saving, simply throwing them away or destroying them was just not in her nature. The hide pile was growing rapidly, and she was suddenly under no illusion of what sort of people the Black family had been. She almost understood how Bellatrix had turned out the way she had.

Having finished with that shelf, she was about to turn her attention to the one underneath it when a knock came on the library door. She looked up just as Harry came in, wiping grime off of his hands. "How about a break hey Hermione", he said, walking over to her and taking the cloth out of her hand, placing it on the table. "It's 6 o'clock already; we should really have some supper and relax, then get back to these jobs tomorrow."

Nodding her head Hermione said, "Oh yes we really should, my hands are starting to hurt anyway, you don't half have to scrub hard at these shelves. They are coming up lovely with the waxing and polishing, but the elbow grease required is killing me."

Smiling slightly Harry lead the way out of the room and down the corridor. As he went towards the top of the staircase, he banged on certain doors down the corridor shouting, "Supper guys! We're done for today, get your arses downstairs!" Heads poked out of the rooms to say they'd be down in a second so Harry and Hermione continued their trip down the stairs. Getting to the bottom and stepping into the large hall, Hermione detoured down the corridor to the right, going a short distance until she reached a door. "Professor," she shouted, banging a hand on the heavy oak door loudly, "We're having supper now, come up when you're ready please." All reply she got was a muffled affirmation that she had been heard and her shouted instructions were being followed the other side of the door, so she turned on her heel and walked back towards the hall.

Entering the kitchen, Hermione found Harry getting 2 baking trays out of a cupboard and placing foil on them all. Understanding what he was doing, Hermione made her way to the fridge and pulled out 5 part baked baguettes and placed them on the foiled trays. Meanwhile, Harry opened the oven door to check that the pot he'd put in their earlier in the day was still there, and upon seeing it was sitting in there he turned the knob for the fan oven to the on position to warm up the large stainless steel pot sitting in it.

The kitchen had been one of the first places to be renovated in the house, with 9 adults in residence a working and functional kitchen was a necessity, especially with either 5 or 6 men. The fitted kitchen had been Hermione's idea, her input to the house that was to be her new home. Even though she could have moved back to her childhood home, living in the wizarding world was important to her.

As the muggle oven got to temperature, the other residents of the house started to trickle in. Most went straight to the kitchen sink to give themselves a good wash up after toiling all morning in their respective areas cleaning and polishing. One by one they sat around the large table, some groaning as their over worked muscles relaxed and their joints clicked and cracked into comfort.

Just as the last of the occupants wondered in, harry put the baguette trays in to the oven and glanced at the clock, "Ten minutes guys and it'll be ready". There was very little reaction from the people sitting around the table, as a lot of them had their head rested against the table top on their arms.

Shaking her head, Hermione laughed as exhaustion was quite clearly evident in everyone, not just herself. Hermione went to the fridge and pulled out 7 bottles of Magners cider, nicely chilled and ready to serve to the men at the table, as well as one for herself.

Pulling the bottle opener out of the cutlery draw she opened them and carried 5 of them over to the table, placing one infront of each guy's folded arms. Looking up at the sound of glass on the table top they all immediately reached for the bottle and took a large gulp of the cold apple cider before relaxing back into the wooden chairs.

At that moment the oven made a ping noise, and Harry grabbed the oven gloves and pulled the large pot out of the heat, placing it on to the top of the oven. Taking the large spoon that was sitting on the kitchen surface next to him; he took the large glass lid off of the pot and stirred the casserole inside. Deciding it was cooked through he grabbed the pot's handles with the oven gloves again and walked it over to the table and placed it in the middle on a place mat to protect the nicely polished wood from the heat. The pot was followed by Hermione with a large basket of bread and rolls, which she placed on the table within reach of everyone.

...

An hour later, after a good meal and a nice cold drink, everyone was feeling much more alive and 'with it'. Taking the evening off the group all trooped upstairs to change their dirty and slightly dust smelling clothes into their clean "comfies", including cotton tracksuit bottoms, t-shirts and jumpers. After cleaning themselves up with hot showers and the clothing changes they all came back downstairs to grab glasses, more drinks and ice from the fridge freezer to tide them over for the evening.

Balancing items in their arms, they all walked into the den, a smaller room than the living room with no chairs or sofa's, but a lot of blankets, large cushions and bean bags. This was the only other renovated room, what they called their 'Revive Room'. It had a large 42 inch LED TV installed on the wall, surround sound speaker turrets in the 5 corners of the room, a large free standing fridge that was always topped up with drinks and a snack cupboard in a corner. One wall was taken up with a desk that housed a desktop computer for the use of the residents of the house, and another wall had a large book case on it. However, in this room at least, it did not house books, but at least 120 DVD's of varying types.

Harry and Hermione were the first to enter the room, closely followed by Draco Malfoy, who very quickly jumped on the comfiest seat there was, claiming it as his own as he snuggled into it. His father followed, rolling his eyes at his son's behaviour, but quickly claimed the cushion next to him. Draco's mother unfortunately was not with them in the house. Finding out that her husband had been a turncoat well before their son was born had been one thing, but finding out that Draco's personality was a coached act from his father had pushed her over the edge. She died during the battle beside her sister, cackling along with her and just as deranged.

Next in were Albus and Minerva Dumbledore. Together finally, after 20 years of hiding their true relationship, it had come out that they were married and were now enjoying their retirement. Having both been too tired to return to teaching after the battle, they had turned the school over to the younger generation, determined to now enjoy life. They settled on the floor, their backs leaning against a padded wall, Albus holding Minerva loosely around the waist. After their first visit to the local supermarket during the previous summer, and the pointing, laughing and suspicious looks from the public, Albus had trimmed his beard and his hair to a normal length and himself and Minerva now looked like the grandparents of the group.

The two of them were followed by the other couple in the house, Remus and Dora Lupin. After her wedding Nymphadora had asked people to stop calling her Tonks as it was no longer her name, and now it was Dora. The two of them settled into one of the corners, Dora settling herself between Remus's spread legs. Her stomach was slightly distended being 5 months pregnant, and being comfortable was beginning to become a slight problem in certain circumstances. Leaning against something, namely Remus most of the time was the only way in which she could be comfortable. Sighing as the muscles in her back and abdomen relaxed, she burrowed her way into Remus's jumper.

And last but by no means least, there was Severus Snape. Long black shiny hair that now reached to the middle of his shoulder blades, a now magically fixed straight nose and teeth and a chilled out expression meant that he was only slightly recognisable from who he used to be. If anyone had looked at him now, a glass of Magners in his hand, black cotton tracksuit bottoms on and a blue t-shirt with the words, "I don't discriminate. I hate EVERYONE!" on it they'd have pled insanity and run screaming. As it was, everyone in the house now knew him as the person he had become, a funny but snarky man who's sense of humour was grey at best, but who secretly enjoyed having people around him after years of forced solitude.

As Severus was the last person to take a seat on a bean bag behind Hermione's cushion, Harry said, "So, can anyone remember whose tern it is to pick the movie because I'm not sure I can myself?" Hermione's eyebrows furrowed in concentration, and then her face lit up, "It's me! It's my turn I remember now!" and she jumped up from her place on the floor to peruse the shelves, quickly plucking one out for them. "Please don't let this be a chick flick Mione, after Minerva's last pick of _Notting Hill_ then Dora's _Four Weddings_ I really don't think I can cope with another one!" Scowling Hermione opened the DVD case hiding the front from everyone's view.

Scowling at him Hermione said, "And I suppose that your pick of _Star Wars_ was the highlight of everyone's evening last Friday! And the 2 days following that when you couldn't resist talking to everyone through your hands, and making breathing noises that sounded like a 999 call was necessary!" Everyone except Harry sniggered and he ducked his head, his black hair that was now in a style reminiscent of David Beckham in the 90's, falling over his eyes as his face started to turn a bright crimson colour. Hermione sniggered and mock swore at him with her middle finger then put the DVD on the tray and pressed the eject button again for it to close.

The DVD player whirred into action and Hermione picked up the remote control to play it. As the film started and the opening credits started, almost everyone in the room looked somewhat confused. Severus was the one to speak up first,"Hermione, why on earth does this film start with the Bayeux Tapestry? What sort of film is this?" Looking extremely confused at the start of the film, Harry looked over at Severus, "The what tapestry?" his brows furrowed.

Severus rolled his eyes at the confused faces in the room, "The Bayeux Tapestry is a 224 ft long embroidered cloth, it is not actually a tapestry despite its name, which shows the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England in 1066, and the events of the invasion itself." Almost everyone save for Lucius was staring at him like he had grown another head. Hermione could tell he was becoming a tad uncomfortable with all eyes on him so she said, "The tapestry is annotated in Latin and despite its age you can still see it on display in a special museum in Bayeux, Normandy called Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux."

Severus looked up at her with a thankful expression and she smiled, "Well after your impromptu history lesson, let's get back to the film as it's starting now", and with that she sat herself in front of Severus on her cushion to watch her film choice. However, just as the silence settled it was disrupted by Harry once again. "I thought you said this movie was about an English invasion, that just said Jerusalem, and that guy's accent is American!"

Rolling her eyes Hermione steeled herself for an explanation, "Harry, the film is called Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. It is about an outlaw in Nottingham called Robin Hood who was famous for robbing from the rich in society and giving what he stole to the local poor to help them. His wife was called Maid Marion and she helped him to do what he did. This film is how it all started. And about the American accent, that is because he's Kevin Costner, and", at that point she stopped because Dora swooned very loudly. "Oh Kevin Costner, one sexy sexy man! Even if he made no attempt in this film to hide the fact that he is American."

Grinning Hermione looked from Dora to Remus, who was giving the top of his wife's head a mock glare, "Calm down Remus, I can feel your eyes on me. Chill out man, I'm married to you." Remus gave her a squeeze and everyone settled down to watch Hermione's movie in peace, the only noise came from the occasional rustling of a snack packet or the fizz of a bottle being opened.


	3. Chapter 3

Life as it is Lived 3

3 days later, and the group's cupboards were looking extremely bare. Even the freezer, that was usually pretty full was somewhat lacking in food that could be turned into anything resembling a meal. Bits and pieces of things that could and should never be put together. Hermione was searching around the cupboards for her breakfast, and for something to prepare for everyone else, but very quickly realised that a shopping trip was definitely now a necessity, and in any case, they'd have to go out to get food for the coming Christmas holiday.

Sighing, Hermione simply fixed herself a mug of tea and sat at the kitchen table with her current read propped against the milk jug. 5 minutes passed and Severus strolled in wearing his sweatpants and another t-shirt that said, 'Not The Brightest Crayon In The Box Now Are We', each word in a different colour. His hair mussed from sleep and his eyes still droopy he smiled to her then started towards the fridge. Before his hand had even touched the handle Hermione said, "Don't bother Severus, there's nothing in there for breakfast. If we want something this morning either a shopping trip is required rather early today, or going out for food. Regardless of the choice, a visit to Tesco is required at some point."

As Severus sighed Draco and Lucius came in together, not looking as messy as Severus had, but still not quite recovered from their night's sleep. The both of them made the mistake of assuming the fridge held something to eat, and were very annoyed when both Hermione and Severus shattered their dreams. Sighing, Severus said, "Maybe seen as it looks like none of us will be eating anytime soon, we should wait till everyone else is awake then head out to Tesco. Christmas is 11 days away, and we have nothing for the Christmas dinner yet."

After tea and coffee had been drunk by everyone, waking them all up and clothes had been changed, the group gathered in the foyer of the house. "Right, who's going shopping then? There's too many of us for one or two cars so I think we'll have to take them all." Shaking their heads, Albus and Minerva said, "No Hermione, there's no point us going with you too, we'll stay behind and wait for you lot to come back I think." Lucius also said he would not be going out as he wasn't feeling up to going out. He'd suffered massively during the final battle. When his comrades in the Death Eaters had realised his duplicity, he'd become their favourite target and he was still recovering. Nodding, Hermione gathered her coat and her handbag for the trip out.

A short while later found Hermione, Harry, Draco, Severus, Remus and Tonks leaving the house, all set for the trip out. Harry climbed into the driving seat of his dark blue Mazda 6, followed by Draco in the passenger seat and Remus and Dora in the back seats. Hermione climbed into the passenger seat of Severus's black CLS-Class coupe, followed by Severus getting into the driver's seat. Harry reversed off of the drive and started down the street slowly, waiting for Severus to reverse and join him on the street in front of the house. When they were both ready, they started on their journey to the supermarket, just 4 miles away from the house.

10 minutes later they pulled into the car park of the large Tesco Extra, Severus and Hermione arrived there first and parked the car, waiting for Harry and the rest of them to arrive. 2 minutes later, Harry pulled in to the space beside the Mercedes and opened his door. "Severus, did you have to pull that stunt on the road back there? One minute you were behind me, the next you were next to us and zooming past!" Smirking Severus said, "Well Harry, what's the point of having such a big engine at your disposal if you never use!" Harry and the others grinned at Severus. "Do you have a big engine? Or is that car an extension of something?" Remus and Draco sniggered at Harry, but Hermione and Dora looked rather interested and curious to find out. Severus smiled, shut the car door and clicked the central locking before saying, "If you really want to know, my engine is big, loud and you can get as many miles out of it as is required by whoever would like to have a ride." Harry looked horror struck and the girls giggled at the obvious innuendo about Severus's endowment.

They made their way across the car park and to the main doors, Hermione and Harry grabbed a large trolley each on their way in and Hermione put her handbag on the hook just below the handle bar of her own trolley. They slowly began the trek around the shop, starting in the section closest to the door, the music film and books area. Hermione picked up a film from the bargain section called The Day After Tomorrow, and turned it over to read the back cover. Looking over her shoulder, Draco enquired, "The day after tomorrow? That makes no sense. Why would you call a film that?" Smiling at Draco, Hermione put it into the trolley she was pushing and moved on with the others to the fresh fruit and vegetables.

They very quickly decided that Hermione's trolley would be for general use and Harry's was for their Christmas supplies, and namely the Christmas dinner. As they went from aisle to aisle, both trolleys were piling up nicely, mainly the Christmas one. They had decided that instead of 1 large turkey, 1 medium and 1 small turkey would be just fine, one for Christmas Day and one for Boxing Day. Vegetables were a point of argument for everyone, "You can't have a Christmas dinner without roasted parsnips," said Severus and Draco together, getting a bag of pre-wrapped parsnips each and dropping them into the trolley. Hermione sighed and with a frustrated huff said, "Yes guys you can very easily have a Christmas dinner without parsnips, in fact I can honestly say I've never missed them on my dinners and I can't imagine I ever will." Feeling somewhat childish, Severus stuck his tongue out at her behind her back and Remus and Harry sniggered.

Whipping around as she heard their sniggers she said, "What are you two sniggering about? Those are very unattractive noises you do realise that don't you?" This proclamation made them guffaw and hold their sides, as she flushed and huffed away down the aisle. The both of them looked over at Severus as she flounced away and he stuck 2 fingers up at her using both hands and waved them around behind her. Smirking the men followed her round the rest of the aisle, and by the time they had reached the back of the store where the alcohol and other drinks were, there was very little room. Thinking on his feet, Draco hid behind the rest of them and conjured a third smaller trolley for their drinks.

Bottles of Whiskey, Gin and other such spirits were first, and then half a dozen bottles of wine followed that. Getting to the cider section, 2 crates of Magners and 2 crates of Bulmers went in, along with a large bottle of Scrumpy Jack. A dozen diet coke bottles followed by 3 bottles of non alcoholic wine were the last things to go in, and then the group pushed their heavy load down the bottom aisle in front of the other customers and the checkouts. The cues were enormous so Severus very discreetly pulled out his wand and hit a few with a quick Confundus charm, and the queue quickly dwindled as people remembered they needed something else, or went to the next queue for reasons known only to Severus.

Jumping to the now clear checkout, they began with Draco's drinks trolley, as the crates and bottles would be easier to get though quicker. Then the rest of their shopping followed in the belt, all in groups, with non food items first such as cleaning products, washing powders and personal things people had thrown in like deodorant and the like. Next on the moving conveyer belt were the boxed things like ready meals and the occasional frozen thing, with soft fruits and vegetables in the middle, and bread and eggs at the end. Once everything had been scanned, the woman said the total and Severus pulled out his copy of the special credit card they'd all got to pay for things that were for everyone such as food and bills for the house. The group left Tesco, food packed up and ready to go into the car boots. As Severus's car boot wasn't as big as Harry's Mazda, the alcohol and bottles went into the boot of the Mercedes, and all of the food went into the Mazda. Everyone quickly buckled themselves up and the two cars left the car park and started to trip home.

...

The remaining time leading up to Christmas flew past the occupants of Grimmauld Place, but thanks to their diligent work, the house was very much ready for the festivities that would soon come down on them. After finishing the cleaning and sorting out, the house was in desperate need of decorations, and more specifically a tree. Given that the previous owners of the house had been a family of humbugs, all bar Sirius there was very little in the way of Christmas decorations in the house. Not one string of tinsel or a single bauble could be found by the group in the house. They doubted whether Christmas had ever been celebrated in the house, and they were now determined to change that.

They had all decided the night before, during a very nice Indian take-away, that they all needed a good night out, a bit of fun to let their hair down after the effort of scrubbing the house clean. They had all readily agreed, and so the suggestion had been made by Harry that they should all go out bowling for the night. Lucius, Draco and Severus weren't sure what 'bowling' entailed and were just curious. So Hermione was now rummaging through her wardrobe at 5.30 in the evening, trying desperately to find an outfit to wear tonight that would be comfortable, but was also nice enough to go out in for the night. Deciding on a denim skirt, a red check shirt and a nice pair of patent red ballet flats, she placed the clothes on her bed and jumped in the shower.

Once clean and smelling beautiful, Hermione got out and wrapped a towel around her waist. Padding across the floor of her bedroom, she grabbed her wand off of the side table and sat in front of her vanity mirror. Pointing her wand at her hair, she first dried it, and then deciding quickly how she'd do it, she curled it lightly, so that it was more of a lose curl that was easy to keep in style. Dusting it with hair spray, as no spell could do the same as the muggle spray, she began adding makeup to the ensemble. Silver eye shadow with a black liner over the top of her eye and on her water line, she applied her blackest black mascara, and finally I deep red lipstick with gloss over the top. Quickly looking in the mirror to make sure she looked good Hermione declared herself ready, grabbed for her mini black handbag she used for evenings out and made her way down the hall towards the stairs. Meeting Severus and Lucius on the way towards the stairs she smiled appreciatively at their outfits.

Severus was dressed almost solely in his customary black, but instead of hideously boring robes he was in a black and grey striped shirt which was tucked into black jeans with a thick black belt around his hips. As she studied the belt closer she had to stifle a giggle, and he grinned as he noticed she was trying not to laugh, as the large silver buckle of the belt had the symbol for batman on it. "Well, well, well Severus! My muggle humour and culture are rubbing off on you faster than I thought possible." Smirking at Severus, Hermione turned her attention towards Lucius. He was dressed almost exactly the same as Severus, but instead of black and grey, his shirt was black and blue and the buckle of his belt had the CK from Calvin Klein on it. Both men had their long hair tied back with black ribbon and looked most distinguished and handsome. "Well gentlemen, don't we just look dashing tonight" she said, fanning her face and placing a hand on her heart.

Smiling at each other they said in unison, "Well thank you very much my Lady." Smirking they both offered an arm to her and they ascended the stairs together to meet the rest of the group in the large foyer of the house. Looking around Hermione saw that all the men were dressed in a similar way, although Draco and Harry weren't wearing shirts, but t-shirts. In their opinion shirts were for formal occasions and school, not for going out for fun, although Hermione preferred the shirt to a t-shirts as it seemed to accent a man's innate maleness, as when the shirt collar was open and relaxed, a small amount of chest hair could be seen, and they were much more adult than t-shirts. Seeing Lucius and Severus dressed up had only just now made her aware of them as men, and sexy, handsome men at that.

Smirking at her thoughts, she shook her head and said, "Right ok, seen as our three Slytherin's don't know where we're going or indeed what bowling is going to be, I vote we do some sidelong with them just in case. We all want to arrive in one piece to enjoy the night." Nodding their heads in agreement, the group exited the property, walked across the road to a small park, totally deserted of people and very dark. Harry put his hand on Draco's back and the both of them disappeared, followed closely by Remus and Dora together, Albus and Minerva who each had a hand on Lucius's shoulder, and then finally Severus and Hermione were the only two left. "Ready Severus", said Hermione, checking she had everything with her before going. Nodding his head Severus waited for her to put her hand on his shoulder, however, feeling brave Hermione wrapped an arm around his waist and popped them away, before Severus could react to her proximity.


	4. Chapter 4

Life as it is Lived 4

The Bowling Alley was very dark when the group walked in and the fluorescent lights of the various games around them very really the only light in the room. The same dark blue glow that came from almost all of them was rather harsh on the eyes in the darkness. The pool tables on the right hand side of the room were also in darkness, waiting for someone to come over and switch the down light above the grassy surface of the table on. The bar on the back wall was lit up and obviously open, but the tables in front were also in darkness. "Did someone forget to feed the metre in here?" joked Harry, pretending to feel his way to Hermione with his eyes almost shut. Hermione batted his hands away as he made contact with her waist and stomach. "Quit it Harry," she said, giggling at his silly antics.

They all converged on the front desk and Hermione went to get the lanes as Harry led Draco over to the metal stands with the bowling balls so that they could pick out the right sizes for their fingers, and a weight enough that they could pick it up but it would also do its job on the pins. The guy behind the counter who looked like he'd rather be anywhere but at work right now, Matthew according to his name tag was fiddling with his mobile phone and totally ignoring them. Hermione coughed loudly to get his attention and his head snapped up to the desk where the group was standing. Smiling and looking Hermione up and down he came over and said to Hermione, "How many lanes would you like darlin'?" and winked at her cheekily. Hermione was decidedly unimpressed with him, and kept her face neutral but raised an eyebrow slowly. The young guy's smile diminished somewhat, sensing he'd get nowhere with this girl.

"We would like 2 lanes thank you very much, and don't call me darlin' little man," said Hermione, pulling her copy of their credit card out of her purse to pay for the lanes. Remus, Severus and Lucius hid their smirks behind their hands, revelling in Hermione's obvious dislike for the cocky young man who obviously thought he was god's gift to women on earth. The guy put the payment through and Hermione returned the card to her purse, placing it back into her bag. "Right guys, bowling shoes time" she said, taking her red flats off and turning to Matthew behind the counter again. "Size 6 for myself please, and try to make sure my shoes don't disappear by the time I get them back."

Draco and Harry came over, each holding a bowling ball in their hands and Draco frowned at Hermione with no shoes on giving them to the guy behind the counter, and Harry now taking his own off. "Why are you taking your shoes off? Is it not a bit dangerous to have balls this heavy and large around with bare feet with no protection? What if someone were to drop the ball on their foot?!" Sniggering slightly Harry went up to the counter as Hermione had done and asked for size 9's and the young guy exchanged his Barker Black leather boots for the hideously unattractive bowling shoes.

Following Hermione and Harry's lead, Remus, Severus, Lucius, Dora, Albus and Minerva all followed suit and quickly the only person who didn't have his bowling shoes on was Draco. "Draco you need to change your shoes to these ones. Normal shoes aren't allowed on the bowling alleys because they mark the floors with rubber marks. These ones don't." Draco frowned but seemed to take this in and begin unlacing his Berluti black leather shoes. Taking them off, he walked over to the desk and put them on the wooden surface, "Size 9's please. Oh and these are £250 shoes. They go missing, and so will you!" he said, as the guy took them away and put them in one of the holes behind the desk. Draco inspected the shoes before beginning to put them on, "What do they do with these once you've given them back and got your own shoes? Do they chuck them away or something?"

Hermione couldn't stop the smirk that spread across her face at her utter glee that Draco didn't know that they recycled the shoes for everyone. Oh she was going to enjoy this! "Well of course not Draco," she said, in a light and nonchalant tone, "that would terribly wasteful and very silly! No, No, they spray them with anti-bacterial spray and wipe them down then put them back for someone else to have later on. Everyone wears the same shoes." It took a matter of seconds for a look of utter horror and disgust to appear on his face and he held the offending articles at arm's length. "So you're saying that other people's feet have been in these!" he said, gesturing to the shoes with his other hand, "They could have anything! Foot diseases and stuff!" burst out Draco, not caring that he sounded childish and petulant.

Almost everyone found this too funny to try and hold it in, and suddenly everyone except Draco was holding their sides laughing at him holding the red and blue shoes away from his body. "Draco," laughed Hermione, trying to get control of her laughing and wiping the tears from her eyes, "what do you mean foot diseases and stuff? Next you'll be saying they could have cooties!" This set most people off again, and this time no one attempted to stop until they'd had their fill of laughing at the blonde, who had now dropped the shoes to the floor and had his arms crossed over his chest in annoyance, a slight pink tinge to his cheeks at being openly laughed at. "Well they could have that cooties disease! What are cooties anyway?" Hermione started giggling again but Harry managed to get himself under control first and told Draco to just put the shoes on or we'll never get 1 game in, never mind the 3 they'd paid for.

Dora decided that she'd rather watch the action from a comfortable chair rather than play around holding the large bowling balls. The weight she was carrying was heavy enough as it was for her back. This meant that the teams were now even at 4 on each, so they separated into 2 teams, one contained Severus, Lucius, Draco and Hermione and they called themselves 'Ingenium' meaning intelligence in Latin. The other team was headed by Albus and included Harry, Remus and Minerva along with him. In typical Albus style his team was named after his favourite sweet, so they were 'The Lemon Drops'. Hermione sat down in front of the keyboard for the screen above their heads and pressed a button next to the 'qwerty' keyboard and within a minute a waiter was beside her to take an order for them. Turning to her team mates she said, "Let's get some drinks ordered before we start that game and we can open a tab so that we don't have to keep disappearing to get rounds in". Both teams ordered a round for themselves and as soon as the drinks had arrived the games began in earnest. Hermione and Harry went first for both teams to show the others what to do if they were at all unsure, and at that point Ingenium went ahead, and stayed ahead for the entire 3 games

...

After a rousing win from Ingenium over The Lemon Drops, the group decided to call it a day with the bowling and move over to the bar to continue their night. They gathered up coats, jackets, handbags and any remaining drinks that had not been finished and made their way over to the tables in front of the still very empty bar. "Looks like we've got the place to ourselves doesn't it," said Harry, flopping down onto one of the chairs. He picked up their drinks menu and had a look through it, pulling a face at some of the cocktails they had on there. "What the hell is a woo – woo?!" he said, furrowing his brow and looking towards Hermione turning the menu towards her so she could see what he was pointing at.

Hermione looked over at the drink and smiled, "It's a cocktail made of vodka, peach schnapps, and cranberry juice. It's a "Sex on the Beach" minus the orange juice really. It's nice actually, once you get over the fact that it's pink," she said nonchalantly, pulling her hair brush and perfume out of her handbag. Harry's eyebrows flew into his hair and he made a face of disgust as if she'd told him it was some sort of bodily fluids cocktail. "You seem to be very knowledgeable on muggle alcoholic drinks Hermione. Got a sneaky alcoholic side to yourself that no one else has seen? A closet alchy are you?" Harry said, wiggling his eyebrows at her in what she assumed was supposed to be a suggestive manner, but it simply looked like he'd temporarily lost control of his facial muscles. Arching her eyebrow, Hermione replied, "Of course I'm not an alcoholic Harry", she said, pulling her purse out of her bag and checking she had enough money for the first few rounds. "I am a drunkard. Alcoholics go to meetings!" she joked, sticking her tongue out and standing up.

Hermione moved over to the bar, closely followed by Severus and Lucius who gave the barman everyone else's collective order and waited for Hermione to add her choice to the bar tab. Hermione thought for a second and then said, "To that order you can add a 'Comfortable Screw Up Against The Wall' I think. For now that will do nicely for me." The barman arched an eyebrow and smirked at her before grabbing a glass and beginning the cocktail for her. Smiling, she turned to find two pairs of eyes looking at her with confusion, but also thinly veiled amusement and a little heat. Severus broke out of the reverie first and said, "What the hell was that Hermione? Did you just proposition him or something?" Feeling somewhat affronted but rather playful she rolled her eyes and said, "Severus, I am somewhat offended that you would think I would proposition a total stranger behind a bar, however to answer your questions, no I did not just proposition him! It is a name of a cocktail and he is currently mixing it for me." Hermione turned on her heel, leaving them standing together at the bar to bring the drinks over in a couple of trips.

After he had gotten a few drinks inside him, Harry couldn't help but begin to become somewhat morose about things. "I can't believe I didn't figure it out before! All that time I spent chasing Cho and it turning into something closely resembling a car accident should have taught me something, but no. 4 years I spent skirting around Ginny, and then when it did happen it didn't work out right. I mean, not being able to get a hard-on should have told me something!" Sniggering, Draco said, "Well to be fair to you, it could have been anything. I mean she was ginger for a start. And when you looked hard enough she wasn't that attractive really was she. You shouldn't be too hard on yourself." Smiling and snorting into his drink Harry couldn't help himself, "Yea but someone doesn't have to be beautiful to get you hard! A little mess about is usually all it takes, and I couldn't even do that. I should have figured it out after Cho. Maybe I always knew I was gay, I just never wanted to admit it to myself."

Patting Harry on that back, Draco put his drink down on the table top and took a deep breath, "Well, if we're confessing and being awfully sad then I'll have to say that I too am gay." Almost everyone at that point stared openly at Draco for at least 5 minutes before the moment was broken by Hermione laughing. "So all those years Pansy 'Pugface' Parkinson spent chasing you around that school was a lesson in futility! Ha that's so funny. Still, in all seriousness you could kind of see it if you looked into it. You dressed much too nice for your average bloke, and you took care of yourself. Most guys sort of fell out of bed, then spent the rest of the day grunting until it was time for bed again." Harry sniggered at her and said, "Well you'd know all about that wouldn't you Hermione. You dated the only guy in the school that was third best to Crabbe and Goyle In the oaf grunting competition. Ron was less a human, more a sort of creature from the deep most of the day."

Chuckling into her drink she then sighed and put the empty glass on the table, "Well yes, I plead momentary insanity for that period in my life. Not quite sure what happened there, because it clearly made no sense for us to be together. Although in saying that I really don't think any of the guys in our year at school suited me. Not even the Ravenclaw guys were on my level. I think I knew I needed an adult not a child." Harry nodded vigorously at this, and then left the table for the bar, empty glasses in hand to order another round for the group. While he was gone Draco leaned over to Hermione and said, "Between the two of us, if I made a move on Harry do you think he'd reciprocate, or is it a bad idea on my part?" Hermione looked at him out of the corner of her eye and saw a look of sincerity, but also fear in his eyes and took pity on him. "Draco, I honestly don't know how Harry feels about you. He's never mentioned any attraction to you but in saying that i'm not sure he would admit it even if he did. I suggest you let tonight and your admission sit for a few days, then see where the ground is between the two of you."

Nodding his head as Harry came back with the drink son a tray, Draco sat back up properly in his seat and a mischievous look came over his face, "Well seen as we are on the road of no return, who else has got a little nugget of intrigue for us to chew over?" Scanning the group his eyes rested on his father, who gave him a glare and silently shook his head, but Draco's mind had been made up so he pointed at his dad and said, "Come on daddy dearest, surely you have something to share with the here congregated group." Giving his son another glare, Lucius looked around and look of glee spread across his face. "Given the present company and the previous conversation I would like to confess that, for awhile I've thought that Hermione has grown into a beautiful young woman and I think she's very intelligent and sincere. Hermione Granger I have a crush on you!"

Almost spraying her drink on the rest of them and nearly falling out of her seat Hermione blushed furiously and smiled at Lucius fondly, "Lucius Malfoy you are a charmer, handsome and very well dressed. You have exquisite taste in food, books and when necessary, fine clothing. However, you are unfortunately not my type." He smiled and nodded his head slowly, then gave her an evil smirk. "Well then, if I'm not your type who or what is? What's he like?" Tapping her finger to her temple, Hermione feigned a look of deep thought and then smiled, "Well there a few things I could include in that description. He'd have to be tall, taller than me at least. He needs to have dark hair, and not short either. I don't do short back and sides, I like to have something to hold on to, to pull when the mood takes me. The main thing I think really is he'd have to be intelligent enough to keep up with me."

Lucius smirked at her and said, "Who are you thinking about when you say that? There's got to be someone out there that you think is good enough for you?" Hermione thought about it and said, "Well I'm not exactly thinking about a particular person when I describe him," she said, looking down at her finger nails, pretending to pull invisible bits of fluff off of them. Lucius raised an eyebrow at her and then frowned slightly at her suspicious behaviour. "I've always thought that the actor Richard Armitage was rather hot, and Alan Rickman. He's like super hot I think. His baritone voice is so sexy, and he's got a dark and intense sort of look about him."

Dora chimed into the conversation at that point, "Which one is Richard Armitage again? I recognise that name from somewhere." Hermione nodded at that, "Yes you would recognise his name. Remember we watched that Robin Hood series on BBC 1, he was the Sherriff of Nottingham in it." Dora thought for second then a smile spread across her face. She nodded and a glazed look came over her eyes, "Oh yea, I remember him! All that leather and the studs. He had the full on dark, dangerous and scary thing."

Hermione snorted at her facial expression, and then smiled and put a dreamy look on her face. "Well that's my type of guy, although out of the two I think Alan Rickman would have to get my vote. The voice is just sinful. If he did the M and S food and drink adverts women from all over the world would record it from their TV's to watch on a continual loop." Almost everyone looked confused, Harry was the only one who understood and he sniggered, "I'd have to agree with that. His voice is amazing, but he has a lot of bad luck in his films. He's always a villain; in fact he is the definitive villain. He's been the Sheriff of Nottingham, Hans Gruber, Judge Turpin and Rasputin. You can't really get more evil than Rasputin!"

Draco frowned, "Wasn't the Sheriff of Nottingham the bad guy in the last film we watched? The one that Hermione chose last time." Hermione nodded and said that, yes he was the baddie in the film she had chosen. "Hey Severus, he kind of looks like you doesn't he. All the dark clothing, the hair, the voice and even the personality!" Severus chuckled and nodded his head smiling. Draco smirked and eyed Hermione gleefully, "Well I suppose out of the people here then, Hermione's choice of bloke would be you then Severus." Hermione's head whipped round to Draco so fast he thought she'd have whiplash, and she glared at him, mentally battering him with a beater's bat. Hermione's face was heating up and her cheeks were turning a wonderful shade of Weasley red. She covered her face with her hands to get away from the faces of the grinning group around her. Sighing she said behind her hands, "Yes ok fine, let's all have a good giggle. I fancy Severus, there I said it."


	5. Chapter 5

Life as it is lived 5

Christmas Day dawned bright but cold, and it was the latter that made Hermione reluctant to get out of her bed for the day of noise, hustle and bustle that was about to start. Hermione knew she was awake because she was aware of the chill in the air that had started to creep into the gaps between her duvet and her mattress. Carefully covering all the gaps, she snuggled further into her pillow, refusing to open her eyes as this would be acknowledgement that the day had started. However, remembering what specific day it was made her think about her presents. She cracked an eye open and noticed the purple stocking hanging on the bottom left post of her bed. Turning on her side she felt around on the bedside table and her hand connected with her mobile phone. Picking it up she pressed the unlock button to wake the screen and looked at the digital clock display.

Hermione decided that 7.45 am was a good and respectable enough time to wake up properly on Christmas Day so opened her eyes properly to try and get some light into them to wake her up a bit more. Looking to her left again at the bedside table she felt for the handle of her wand and picking it up, she waved her wand across the room at her iPod speakers. Immediately one of her favourite songs, _Club Can't Handle Me_ from Flo Rida was on and she couldn't help but start to sing along. Looking at her stocking again, she grabbed her purple sequined duvet around her, despite the pj's she was wearing and crawled her way down the bed to her stocking and dragged it up to her pillows. The music had woke her up a bit so she was now eager to see what small delights were hiding inside.

After she'd tipped it upside down and different things had fallen out she began to sort through the mass of mini presents. The first thing was a DVD of Alice In Wonderland. She smiled and knew that this must be from Harry as he was the only one who would know she'd wanted this particular film. The magic that Tim Burton had created was amazing, and even though his wasn't real and hers was she wished it was a real place sometimes. Smiling she put the DVD back down and rummaged through the mini pile on her bed. The usual historical things with a Christmas stocking were there. There was 2 satsumas, a handful of assorted nuts, a mint flavoured stripy candy cane and some chocolate galleons, replacing the real thing. Deciding that it was much too early in the morning for anything sugary, she pulled the cloves out of the satsumas and ate a few segments before returning to the small pile in front of her.

She picked up a couple of amusing things that were simple stocking fillers. There was a Rubik's cube and a Sudoku cube, both all muddled up ready for her to solve in the following days, or weeks depending on how messed up they were. However, knowing the other occupants of the house, they had probably taken great glee in each having a mess with it in an attempt to prove to her that she wasn't as intelligent as she made herself out to be. Putting them both aside she finished off the rest of her satsumas, checked her phone again and decided that at 8.15, it was likely that most of the other people in the house were stirring from their slumber. "Better get a shower while I can with the hot water that we have. Draco's hair routine usually takes it all in a matter of minutes." Dragging herself out of the warmth and comfort of her bed, she shivered against the cold air that assaulted her skin and caused goose bumps to appear.

After grabbing all her essentials, sliding her slippers and dressing gown on and pulling her towels off of the radiator in her room she began to walk down from her bedroom to the bathroom closest to her. Nearing the door she heard footsteps coming from the other side of the long hallway and so quickened her steps to get their first. The footsteps got closer and louder, and in a few seconds bare feet and legs appeared, swiftly followed by muscled chest and stomach to which a chiselled face and blonde hair was attached. Jumping quickly towards the door she just about saw an angry but amused face with ice blue eyes before the door was shut in said person's face and quickly locked. Feeling childish this morning in light of what day it was she sniggered and shouted, "Ha Ha! Triumph over adversity, looser!" through the wooden door that separated her from Draco. Hermione placed her things on the closed loo seat and turned in time to hear a muffled curse through the door and the footsteps disappear down the corridor.

Smiling, Hermione undressed and made sure everything she'd need was within reaching distance of her in the shower before she jumped under the wonderfully hot, almost scorching water. She'd always preferred her shower and bath water at the extreme end of hot, a comment made by Ron after he'd tried to get into her bath behind her once had only compounded this. Hermione grinned as she thought back to that moment where Ron had tried to jump into her bath water in an attempt to seduce her into having their first time in the bath. His screams were probably heard in Reykjavik, and were definitely heard around the Burrow. Smiling, Hermione got rid of the memory and concentrated on her morning routine. Her shampoo was made by her own fair hand, and was specifically designed to tame her hair. Growing up had gone some way to doing the job, but it still just needed that extra shove into beauty.

...

Hermione was the first downstairs after her shower, dressed simply in a green fitted shirt and black jeans, fluffy white slippers completed the ensemble. Mid way through pulling breakfast items out of the fridge she heard footsteps coming in her direction from the bottom of the staircase, and moments later Severus entered the kitchen and plopped down gracefully on to a chair around the table. Hermione smiled at his obvious sleepiness, clearly he wasn't in the land of the living quite yet. "Good Morning Severus, Happy Christmas!" she said, putting a little more volume into the words than strictly necessary. He glared at her through his curtain of hair and grunted a monosyllabic reply, and then saw the teapot in the centre of the table. "Tea. Good." He said, pulling the pot and his mug in front of him.

Hermione couldn't help but giggle at the caveman way he spoke in a morning before he'd had his caffeine. The other residents of the house had learnt very quickly that Severus was most assuredly not a morning person, and if you wanted an argument with him, the morning would be the best time to start asking questions of any nature. He poured himself a cup and slid the pot back towards the centre of the table and the other mugs sitting there.

Moments later they were joined by Remus, who looked rather spritely and cheerful, "Morning Hermione, Happy Christmas," he said, coming up behind her and kissing her on the cheek. She returned the sentiment and Remus made his way to his seat, "Good morning Sunshine," he said at Severus, who simply glared at Lupin over the rim of his teacup and made a gesture with his middle finger. Remus looked aghast and put a hand to his heart as if wounded, "Such rude gestures so early in the morning, and on such a glorious occasion!"

By now Severus had drunk enough tea so as to be coherent enough to begin forming sentences. "Remus please, tell me now if you are going to be this annoying all day, just so I can take a sedative. Or maybe slip you one." Lupin glared at him. Snape smirked into his teacup and Hermione couldn't stop the snicker escaping. Remus didn't say a word as he got up out of his chair and made his way out of the kitchen. However, just as he got behind Severus he turned round, got down to ear level and shouted, "Bah! Humbug."

Severus hadn't been prepared and jumped slightly in his seat before growling an obscenity at Remus, "Hell is filled with people like you Flea Boy." Shortly after, the chair Remus had been occupying was filled by Harry, and he was followed by the majority of the others that lived in the house. All were in varying stages between awake and excited, Draco was practically bouncing off the walls and his ever growing excitement at a proper Christmas, even at 19 years old was somewhat infectious.

Hermione put the finishing touches to breakfast and filled platters with scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, hash browns, tomatoes and black pudding. A flick and a swish sent the platters to the table along with 4 racks of toast, 2 butter dishes, strawberry jam, marmalade and a full set of condiments, including tomato ketchup and HP sauce. Within minutes almost all the food had migrated from the platters to plates, and many compliments were being thrown towards Hermione for a great Christmas day breakfast. By the time everyone had finished their food, talk had turned to presents and so when the dishes had been placed in the sink and invisible hands began to wash them, the group vacated the kitchen in favour of the den.

...

40 minutes later, wrapping of various colours was strewn across the floor and the piles of newly unwrapped presents were growing. Harry reached into the still prettily wrapped parcels and picked one up at random. Reading the bright Christmas tree shaped tag he said, "Severus, this one is yours from Hermione," and he handed it over to him to open. Severus took it from Harry's hands and proceeded to open it carefully and slowly, trying not to rip the paper too much.

"Oh for god sake Severus, it's Christmas wrapping not plate glass, you can rip it you know!" said Draco, who's charmed hands were stuck to his knees after he attempted to rip open other people's presents. "Patience is a virtue Draco," he said smirking at his discomfort, and continued to carefully and sedately open the gift. He uncovered a long green velvet box, about 12 inches long with looping silver writing on the top reading _Strickland's Bespoke_. His eyes widened as he read the writing, and he quickly looked at Hermione who gave a small nod in recognition that yes, it was from that particular store. Slowly, Severus opened the box an admired the gift within. A beautifully crafted watch sat on the green velvet cushion inside, held by a small strip of velvet at each end.

"Oh Hermione that's a beautiful gift, and from Strickland's too, I bet it cost you a pretty penny," said Minerva, and a collection of nods from the older people in the group followed her exclamation. Lucius and Draco, both previously used to the particularly finer things in life heartily agreed. "An elegant timepiece indeed, Marella Strickland's work is always first rate", said Lucius, eyeing the watch enviously. Everyone looked to Severus at that point, who was the only one not to have made his opinion of the gift known. The watch had a black internal dial, a black alligator strap, gold hands and a beautiful gold and stainless steel gravity-defying tourbillon on the left hand side of the face.

Severus looked up at Hermione, an unreadable expression on his face. "Hermione, how much did this watch cost you? I'm not worth whatever it was honestly, but thank you very much." Hermione looked to the floor at that point, a blush slowly creeping across her face and neck and a small smile on her face. When she looked up she cleared her throat and said, "You're very welcome Severus. When I saw it in the shop whilst window shopping in Diagon Alley I just thought of you. I dismissed it the first time I saw it, but couldn't get it off my mind." Severus nodded slowly whilst taking the black watch out of its box and fastening it around his wrist. He looked at it for a minute before clearing his throat, making some excuse about needing the loo and leaving the others in the room.

Hermione watched as the door he had beat his hasty retreat through slipped back in to its place. She put her head in her hands and sighed loudly, "Why did he do that? What did I do wrong?" she mumbled in to her hands, confused and upset at the quick and silent exit. Harry and Draco made their way over to her and sat on either side, both placing an arm around her, "Don't worry Mione, I'm sure he likes it," said Draco, patting her arm and prying her hands away from her face. "It's just that, he may have changed a lot since the war and school, but he still can't get his head round people caring enough to spend that much on him, particularly someone as young, intelligent and beautiful as you."

Nodding in understanding Hermione took a deep breath and seemed to clear her head, "Right ok, whose next then? We need to get these presents gone before dinner time. Any unopened ones will be left for next year." She laughed as Draco practically took a running jump into the remaining pile of gifts to ensure none were missed.


End file.
